sooooo excited!!

Why did I wait so long to get back into creating/crafting/whatever-the-heck-you-want-to-call-making-stuff?  Why why why why why?

I love my vintage shops. Love. Them.  However, the creative and artistic part of myself wasn't being utilized.  I knew I was craving it, but I kept making excuses.  My vintage shops are keeping me busy, I'll do it after I have my yard sale, I'll do it once I get our spare bedroom turned into my office, and on they go.  But today we had a beautiful sunny day in the Bluegrass, and I decided to enjoy it.  I headed to Lexington for breakfast then on to Hobby Lobby.  I knew they carried the alcohol inks I wanted to experiment with. 

Ok, back up.  As I believe I've mentioned, my grandmother passed away last July.  She is the person who instilled in my a love of yard sales, vintage goodies, jewelry, and crafting.  She also instilled in me the desire to shove tons of crap into every closet and drawer in the house until it bursts at the seams, but I'm not giving in to that bit.  Anyway, among the goodies I ended up with from her home is a box of ceramic dominoes.  I don't play dominoes, I will never play dominoes.  However, lots of people make and sell pendants made from dominoes. 

Now, I don't want to get a lot of grief from my Regretsy and April's Army brothers and sisters who might think I'm just going to glue shit to shit.  I'm trying to be creative here.  I'm doing custom finishes on them and hand stamping them with fun phrases and who knows what else I'll come up with.  No gluing here, I swear.


That being said, I came home and got started and OH MY GOD.  Just being the tiniest creative today has given me such joy!  I feel like a moron for not doing it earlier.  Obviously I'm starting small and have a lot of ideas about other things I want to make, but I'm just thrilled to be creating again.

So, if you are doing what I was doing and you keep making excuses for not making something, just stop reading this right now and go make something right now.  Draw, paint, sculpt, color, scribble, dance, write, sing, play, carve, whatever it is you do that exercises your imagination.  You will be very happy you did.

Until later, keep calm and craft on.

back from Virginia

I am back from a fast trip to Virginia to visit my family.  Got to spend a great few days with my parents, my sister, my brother, my sister in law and of course Kate, my super duper niece.  Here she is, if you don't believe how amazing she is.

Our trip was so rushed that I couldn't stop at any of the flea markets and antique malls along the route, which made me twitch a little.  There will be other trips, however, and this one was all about maximizing family time.  Having my family spread out over 4 states makes these little reunions rare and precious.  Even better was the fact that this one wasn't for a funeral--we've had a fair number of those in recent history.

Mother Nature was swell enough to dump rain on Kentucky the entire time we were gone, ensuring a flooded basement for my dear husband to swim around in smacking the crap out of the uncooperative sump pump when we got home.  Redneck swimming pool, anyone?  

This week will be all about getting ready for my giant yard sale which is coming up in a few weeks as well as finding lots of Etsy tips to share with all of you.  Oh, and the April's Army charity shop which will be open this week!  Mucho exciting!  More about that tomorrow.  For now I have to see if a nice glass of wine or three will get rid of the headache that driving over a mountain range in the rain has created.  Cheers!

Darn you Grippo's. Oh, and important charity stuff!

So I make that post yesterday, then hours later I'm at WalMart with a bag of Grippo's BBQ potato chips in my cart. Aarrrrg.  Whatever, water under the bridge, calories ingested, move on.

This weekend I get to see my family!!! This is always very exciting since we are spread out over 4 states and don't get to be in one place all that often.  My brother and his family have just moved into their new house and I can't wait to see it, and them, and to spend Easter with my beautiful niece Kate.  I'm taking her an Elmo backpack so hopefully I'll be on the good aunt list.

I have close to a million things to do before we leave--I'm absolutely horrible at preparing for trips.  I procrastinate terribly and end up leaving everything until the last minute.

One important thing I must do is to plug a very important charity event.  I am a member and leader of April's Army, a team on Etsy that is made up of wonderful giving people.  The group was founded because of our love of April Winchell and her site, Regretsy.  It is snarky and wickedly funny, but at it's center is a charitable heart.  Often misunderstood, April uses her humor for good and is one of the most tender hearted and truly good people I've had the pleasure to find on the internet.  I am very proud to be a part of the team, and to run the April's Army team blog.

Our team is a support group, crafter and Etsy seller think tank, and many other things.  First and foremost, however, we want to do good things for people in need.  To that end we are holding monthly charity events.  Team members contribute an item to be placed in a special shop, with all proceeds going to benefit that month's cause.

This month we are raising money for an amazing member of the team.  I will likely dedicate an entire post to his story at a later date but if you would like to read about Jason you can do so here.  Jason and his girlfriend are amazing people and I feel so fortunate to have learned about them and to help in some tiny way.

The shop will open soon, and I will alert you when that happens.  If you simply can't wait to help, you can donate directly on his site, or purchase anything from his girlfriend's shop, For Jason.  Jason has even created something of his own to sell.  I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my very own Herp Derps.

Alright, I won't subject you to any of my normal musings today.  Please just take a few moments to read Jason's story, go get a chuckle on Regretsy, and at least for today don't take stuff so seriously.  And if you find your face buried in a bag of potato chips, give yourself a break and go do something good for someone else.